Andrew l



(NoM-odel.)

A. L. BIKER.

' ELECTRIC RAILWAY SYSTEM.

Patented Sept. 27, 1892.

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UNTTED STATES PATENT OFFICE.

ANDREWT L. BIKER, OF NEW' YORK, N. Y.

ELECTRIC-RAILWAY SYSTEM.

SPECIFICATION forming part of Letters Patent No. 483,366,6latedSeptember 27, 1892.

Application filed December 22, 1891. Serial No. 415,918. (No model.)

To a/ZZ whom t may concern:

Be it known that I, ANDREW L. BIKER, a resident of New York city, in theState of New York, have invented a new and useful Improvement inElectrcRailway Systems, which improvement is fully set forth in thefollowing specification.

This invention relates to electric-railway systems, and has for itsobject to obviate or lessen the difficulties that have heretoforeprevented the general use of underground conductors for supplyingcurrent to the driving-motors of the cars.

The main dihculty encountered in the attempt to use underground systemsis attendant on the use of an open conduit, in which the working orservice conductor is laid, and though many eorts have been made toovercome this difficulty none of the plans proposed has, so far as I amaware, proved of practical value or utility.

The present invention provides for the protection of the working orservice conductor by inclosing it from end to end in a sheath, tube, orcasing. In other words, it relates to what are known as closed-conduitsys tems. It further provides for the complete and perfect insulation ofthe service-conductor from external contacts, except at the points wherethe cars are passing.

It has been proposed heretofore to carry the service-conductor in aconduit closed from end to end and to make electrical connection betweenthe same and an external conductor by lifting seriatz'm a series ofpivoted contact-pieces, the liftingr of these contacts being effected bymeans of magnets carried by the car. My invention also involves the useof magnets for the purpose of making temporary connection between thedriving-motor of the car and the inclosed conductor; but my systemdiffers in important respects, as will be hereinafter pointed out, fromany heretofore devised.

It has been proposed to inclose the con ductor in a conduit above whichis a magnetic rail or rails, which when magnetized inductively lift theconductor into contact therewith and allow it to drop by gravity afterthe car (carrying the lifting magnet or magnets) has passed. In itsbroad features this system resembles that herein described;

According to my invention the working conductor is loosely laid in amagnetic tubethat is to say, a tube made wholly or in part of magneticmaterial. It is, however, in its position of rest or nonactionelectrically insulated from the tube, this being most con venientlyeected by lining the bottom of the tube with insulating material. Theupper surface of the magnetic tube or conduit is exposed above or aboutfiush with the ground and is most conveniently arranged between the tworails upon which the car travels. The poles of the lifting-magnet arearranged to make contact with the surface of the tube or conduit, andthus to magnetize the latter. The poles of the magnets may be in theform of brushes, making a sliding contact with the magnetic tube or inthe form of wheels to roll thereon. The latter form is preferred. Underthe influence of the magnets that part of the inclosed conductor whichlies beneath them is attracted to the top of the conduit, and thus makeselectrical contact therewith, falling back again when the car haspassed. It is of course necessary that the conductor or cable becomposed of iron wires or have an iron core, so that it may respond tothe attraction of the magnets. The surface of the magnetic tube ispreferably galvanized for the purpose of preventing rust and also toprevent the conductor from sticking to the top of the conduit.

The principle of the invention may be carried out in various ways, and Ido not limit myself to matters of detail. rlfhe invention, however,includes certain special features of construction and arrangement whichare of practical value. For example, in practically carrying out theinvention the inclosing tube is divided into sections of shortlength-say about tive feet-which, though mechanically connected into acontinuous conduit, are magnetically insulated from each other. Thus theeffective magnetism for lifting the serviceconductor is concentrated atthe points of use,

`rendering the action more certain and effi- IOO will bridge over thespace between two adjacent sections of the tube and bring a considerablelength of cableinto contact therewith, thus reducing the resistance ofthe circuit.

It will be understood from the explanation thus far given that the tubeor conduit in which the service-conductor is laid and whose Yuppersurface is exposed above theY ground does not form part of. the electriccircuit eX- cept at the sections where cars are passing, so that thepossibility of accident and of loss by leakage is minimized.

i Another object contemplated by this invention 1sV to provide a lowpressure at the points of use. The accomplishment of this objectnecessitates the employment of arseparate main or supply circuitconveying a high-pressure current from the central Station and Yofconverting or transforming devices at sub-stat1o ns along the linesbetween the supply-circ uit and the service-conductor. The necessity forsuch provision arises not only from the fact that safety requires theuse of lowpressure currents, but also from the further f act that theservice-conductor must be so llght' as to respond readily to theattraction of the lifting-magnets. The devices for convertingand'distributing the high-pressure current may be arranged in variousways. According to the plan herein described the conversion 'is effectedby a high-pressure motor drivingYV a low pressure dynamo. The method ofconversion by means of motor-dynamos is commonly practiced. Theconverting devices will be placed at suitable intervals .apart-say halfa mile, more or less, according to the grades and other conditions ofYthe road-.and they may, if desired, beplaced underground. As theservice-conductor is of small cross-section, and consequently of highresistance, the current from the secondary or local generator is carriedby a feed-wire of large capacity arranged parallel with theserv1ce-conductor and connected therewith by a suitable number of branchwires.

To render the system more efficient, it is preferred to employ at eachsub-station a group of storage-batteries bridged across the two wires ofthe circuit supplied bythe secondary generator. As this generator is inconstant operation and is continuously charging the storage-batteries,the latter act as a reservoir to catch the overflow of current, and thustend to equalize the load at the central stations. In a system soorganized the generator lat the central station may be run constantly atnearly its maximum of efficiency. As the time when passing cars cause adraft upon the current, the supply is taken largely from the batteries,on account of the rela; tively-low resistance of their circuit ascompared with that of the secondary generator. The use of the batteriesis therefore attended with the further advantage that it permits theemployment of smaller motors and generators at the sub-stations thanwould otherwise be required.

Figure I is a diagrammatic view illustrating the general arrangement ofthe apparatus and the electrical circuits and connections. Fig. Il is aview, partly in longitudinal vertical section, of a portion of theconduit which contains the service conductor or cable. Fig. III is across-section of the same. Fig. IV is a side view illustrating, partlyby diagram, the working of the system when, current is being taken by apassing car.

In the diagram Fig. I the broken line A represents the tube, conduit, orhollow rail for the inclosing conductor. Its form is shown in detail inFigs. II and Ill. It is composed of separate sections, of convenientlength, of cast-iron cored out to form a space or chamber for theservice-conductor B. This space is lined on the sides and bottom withinsulating material a, against which the conductor normally rests. Theupper part of the space is uninsulated, so that when the conductor islifted it makes electrical contact therewith. rlhe conduit A may be ofYsmall dimensionssay not more than three or four inches in cross-section.It is laid in a box D, lled with cement D', the upper surface of thetube being exposed and constituting a rail having a smooth face forcontact with the sliding brushes. This tube or hollow rail is mostconveniently located ,between the two rails forming Ythe car-track. Itis to be observed that putting it in place causes but little disturbanceof the road-bed. The sections of the hollow rail {as the tube or conduitA may be most aptly termed) are connected together by means ofcoupling-pieces A', of brass or other non-magnetic or it may be ofinsulating material, provided with threaded bosses c', which screw intothe interiorly-threaded ends of rail-sections.

Referring now to Fig. IV, the cars P Working in this system are providedwith a contact-making magnet or magnets E, (preferably two,) the polesof which may be, as shown, in the form of wheels or rollers N S, adaptedto run on the hollow rail A. These poles are of such distance apart thatthey bridge over the space between two adjacent sections of rail A,making them for the time being respectively a north and south magneticpole or polar prolongation of the lifting-magnets. The service conductoror cable B is made wholly or in part of iron Wires, so that it willrespond to the attraction of the magnets, and be raised, as shown inFig. IV, into contact with the top of its inclosing space, thus makingelectrical contact with the sections of the rail A lying under thepassing car. Cable B thus acts as an armature or keeper for ythetraveling magnets, and a considerable length thereof is in contact withthe rail A. The current for the drivingmotors is collected by a seriesof brushes F, arrau ged to move over the IOC IIO

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upper surface of the rail A and connected with the driving-motor G inthe usual way. The position and electrical connection of onedriving-motor are indicated diagram matically in Fig. I, the circuitbeing completed to the side 'rails on which the car runs, one of whichis represented by the line H. To further insure a good electricalconnection between the service-conductor B and the brushes F, it may befound desirable to insert through the top Wall of the hollow rail A aseries of copper pins a, as indicated in Figs. II and III. When the carhas passed, the conductor B falls back into its original position bygravity, thus breaking contact with rail A. The railsections are notlikely to store sufficient residual magnetism to hold the conductoragainst the top of its chamber or cavity, for the reason that they areexposed alternately to the induence of north and south magnetic poles,so that the resultant effect is practically neutra Referring now to Fig.I, I will describe the arrangement of the circuits and apparatus forsupplying, distributing, and converting the current generated at thecentral station. K indicates the prime generator at the central station,supplying a high-pressure current to the main supply-circuit 7c 7c. Ateach substation along the line (three of which are indicated on thedrawings) is placed a highpressure motor L, driving a low-pressuregenerator MJ Motors L are placed in multipleaic branches between themain conductors 7a k. The secondary generators M are connected by wiresm with a feed-wire O and by wires m with the ground-rail H. Thisarrangement of motor and generator constitutes a wellknown means ofconverting a high-pressure into a low-pressure current. Feed-wire O isconnected by wires o at suitable intervals with the service-conductor B,so as to supply current thereto at a number of points. The feed-wires'Orun parallel with the conductor B, and may be in disconnected lengthseX- tendingV from one sub-station to the next. The feed-wires O may belaid in any suitable trough or conduit adjacent to or parallel with thehollow rail, and the connecting-wires 0 between the feed-wire andconductor maybe placed at any convenient intervals.

It will be understood from the diagram that when there is no car on asection of line supplied by a given secondary generator the circuit ofthe latter will be open. To complete the ciicuit through the motorsrequires, first, the contact of conductor B with the hollow rail A, and,second, the contact of the brushes F with said rail.

For reasons already explained I prefer to place between the conductors mm of the local generators M a group of storage-batteries R, which arebeing constantly charged from the local generators, and from which themain portion of the current consumed by the car-motors is drawn.

It will be seen that my invention resides mainly in the improvedconstruction of the tube or hollow rail having an insulating portionupon which the conductor loosely rests and which may be very quicklylaid and at relatively low cost in magnetically-insulated sectionshaving their ends in close proximity and mechanically connected. Otherfeatures of the system described are believed to be new, as pointed outin the following claims.

Having now fully described the said invention, what I claim, and desireto secure by Letters Patent, is-

l. In an electric-railway system, a hollow rail of magneticmateiialinclosing a conductor, also made, wholly or in part, of magneticmaterial and resting normally on an .insulated portion of the interiorof said rail, in combination with a vehicle having. magnets adapted toattract said conductor into electrical contact with said rail and withbrushes for collecting the current therefrom, substantially asdescribed.

2. The combination of a continuous hollow rail laid in sectionsmagnetically insulated from each other and lined, except at the upperportion, with insulating material, aservice-conductor inclosed by saidrail and resting normally on said insulating-lining out of contact withthe rail proper, and a vehicle provided with magnets adapted to lift theconductor into contact with the rail, substantially as and for thepurpose described.

3. In an eleetric-railway system of the character described, thecombination of the hollow magnetic rail laid in sections magnetically1nsulated, the inclosed service-conductor made wholly or in part ofmagnetic material and norm ally resting on the insulating-liningcovering the bottoni of the interior of said rail, and a vehicleprovided with horseshoe niagnets whose poles are adapted to move incontact with said rail and to bridge the space between two adjacentsections thereof, substantially as described.

4. In an electric-railway system, the conibination of a prime generatorof high-potential currents, a main supply-circuit leading to localstations along the line, currentrconverting devices at saidsub-stations, aserviceconductor connected at intervals with .said maincircuit through said converting devices, a hollow rail of magneticmaterial inclosing said conductor, but normally separated therefrom by alayer of insulating material entending partly around the interior ofsaid rail, and a vehicle having magnets for drawing said conductoragainst the unlined portion of said` rail, substantially as and for thepurpose set forth.

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In testimony whereof I have signed this specification in the presence oftwo subscribing witnesses.

DANIEL T. OBRIEN, E. RIT/GEMA DE Gnovn.

